Evidence of meeting #35 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was security.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
I also noticed that it was really difficult for some of the people who work in the restaurant business to get to work. Whether they're chefs, waiters, waitresses, or hostesses, they couldn't get there because they were worried, they felt the downtown was locked down.
Have you heard of some of the restaurants ending up having to lay off people for a little while because they were so affected by the whole situation that they are having a hard time recovering?
November 4th, 2010 / 10:35 a.m.
Executive Vice-President, Government Affairs, Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association
I talked to one restaurant operator who said that as a result of his loss during the G-20 weekend, he wasn't going to be able to hire the students that he had anticipated hiring for the rest of the summer.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
That's too bad.
I know the downtown entertainment district and the local city councillor have been pushing for an expansion of the affected area, because right now they say if you're within this area you will get compensated, maybe, but if it's outside that area, you definitely won't be compensated. A lot of the restaurants that you represent are outside that area and they're telling you that they have lost a great amount of sales.
Has there been any advancement or progress in terms of expanding that area?
Vice-President, Labour and Supply, Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association
No, we have not had any indication that the area will be expanded. An important thing to remember is that even within the identified area, any business that closed during that period is not eligible for any compensation. So many members just feel discouraged.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
They didn't know that if they closed they wouldn't qualify? It wasn't clear as to who would or wouldn't qualify? They said if you show us the last few years' business and you show...? Is that the case? It's very confusing.
Vice-President, Labour and Supply, Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association
In fairness, it was clear that if you chose to close your business—if you made the decision to board up and just stay closed the entire time—you would not receive compensation. What was surprising was that, because of some of the violence and some of the risks that we saw downtown, some restaurants had to close unexpectedly. Those restaurants, according to the current guidelines, are not eligible for compensation.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
So they were open probably on Friday and Saturday morning, by Saturday afternoon saw what was happening, got worried because there was mayhem, and closed on Sunday. But because they closed on Sunday, they do not qualify for compensation.
Vice-President, Labour and Supply, Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association
That is correct.
Vice-President, Labour and Supply, Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association
The guidelines aren't clear on that. It just says that you had to remain open during the G-20 summit.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
So what you're seeking, really, is the expansion of the affected area. You want a quick, fair, and efficient application process for compensation, and you want a bit of flexibility in terms of the guidelines so that those restaurants that suffered would have some kind of compensation.
Vice-President, Labour and Supply, Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association
That is correct.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Those are the three or four areas.
Have you had any encouragement from the government or anyone to say that may be forthcoming? Are there any discussions, any meetings to get to where you want to get to?
If the committee were to recommend that this is the route, to have some kind of dialogue so that what you are requesting can in fact occur, would that be something you want or would welcome?
Vice-President, Labour and Supply, Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association
We had repeated conversations with the summit management office and they were very responsive. They always returned calls very quickly. However, they informed me that decisions about the amount of compensation and the guidelines were made by cabinet and they didn't have any authority to make any changes to that. At this time, although the summit management office has made big efforts to be open and responsive to our questions and comments, they've indicated that they don't really have the authority or flexibility to make changes.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Thank you, Madam Chow.
Thank you, Mr. Taylor and Ms. Reynolds. I appreciate your flexibility with respect to time. Time is always the enemy of this committee.
I'm going to suspend for 30 seconds in one minute so that we can go in camera and finish some committee business.
Thank you.
[Proceedings continue in camera]